The hostel was cold, I slept in 3 shirts and under four blankets, but for how killed before I was awakened at 8 am at the window ujadające dogs. Another trip into the tropical forest, this time with Hector, we have even a little bit astray:) On the evening were scheduled dances - salsa, samba merengue and bachata with friends Milton, with whom in the meantime we managed to befriend. Milton is studying tourism and real name is Jeronimo. Comes from the rich and famous family. After moving to Bogota parents three years ago, for reasons of safety (kidnapping for ransom), changed the name. Not exactly a security guarantee, but so far Milton aka Jeronimo was not kidnapped. On the other hand, since taking the Uribe government has been done to improve the safety and reputation of the country, as we have seen ourselves.
night passed us on the dance the national trunkach: aguardiente and rum. Mastered the basics of salsa monthly rate in Poland a few years ago. But apart from a few trips to Latin clubs in SF, not salsa dancing. That night, under the tutelage of Milton colleagues who salsa suckle from their mother's milk, probably skipped a few levels:) We danced to four in the morning, waking up the next day was not the easiest. But somehow we managed to collect, Jon is true for over an hour (sic) was packing his backpack, and eventually he was ready and we went on tour - take a taxi to the bus station. I had the impression that half the station knew where we were going, disputes crowd beadle us to the proper position. Next stop is Montenegro, and then the Cana Brava Finca recommended by a friend of Roberta. Fink, a villa with garden, in the case of Zona Cafetera located among the plantations of coffee, bananas, lemons, etc..
We enjoyed the bus ticket price from $ 2.5, just forget that buses are divided into these fast-moving roads and expressways, and these man-killing everyone you encounter. We randomly chose the second option, so the journey we are stretched. Jon had motion sickness, probably more due to the infused amount of alcohol in themselves than the winding mountain roads and fast driving. But that Jon realized that we are in Montenegro, once we left him almost:) Continuation was funny. On the square, probably Simon de Bolivar, jeeps were parked. It would seem that up already filled with people, mainly students, but still somehow was a place, inside or outside, and the tube to catch up for the next passenger. Several people have helped us locate the proper jeep, then helped guide the self-proclaimed We do this within 15 minutes shopping at 3 stores komenderując sklepowymi ladies, paving the way for us and urging retailers. Lack of fluency in English somehow did not prevent the agreement are:) Driving a jeep standing with piętnaściorgiem children by plantations of coffee, bananas, lemons was fabulous. He was a warm evening, the wind blowing our hair, the air was the smell of summer, it was one of the coolest moments of this trip. It was fortunate that our finca was almost at the end of the route, more than half an hour incredible fun. On the spot, it turned out that Mr. staying home Bogota has forgotten to tell the people working on the holding of our arrival, but since we were friends the owners dealt with us very carefully. The night was very warm, we ate dinner at the court among the parrots and exotic vegetation. In the bathroom there were no windows (scheduled), but a lot of spiders and something that resembled the appearance of a large cockroaches. Whatever it was, did not discourage me to sleep with the door open, I felt pity to leave the concert of frogs and crickets ...
morning, of course, a jeep, drove to the Parque Nacional del Cafe, proud Colombians. Park is a thematic-entertainment in all worth seeing, although knowledge of English is very desirable, because there is no translation into English. At night we had one more trip to the Cana Brava jeep, and from there we went to Salento, a charming little town with buildings typical of the region, the so-called. pueblo paisa, where time has stood still, somewhat artificially, I think. The hotel, which had pushed prices to stay very, fortunately, traditionally, you have instructed us to lower cost neighbor. In Salento the first time since leaving Bogota saw "a white man speaking in English" :) It sounds funny, but by the fact that not slept in hostels, backpackers accommodation and traditional site, which travelers usually a few - several months with backpacks around the world, we have not heard anyone in the Am. Northern Australia / New Zealand, South Africa or Europe. The last point is the Cocor Valley, a combination of Switzerland, with touches of equatorial climate. Here grow tall and slender palm wax, reportedly one of a kind view of the world. The beautiful park, it was worth getting up at dawn to see them.
When we got back to town (by jeep, and how), przecieraliśmy eyes in amazement. The scenery is the same, only the actors came on stage. All the shutters were open, full of shops, stalls of crafts, art products, coffee, etc.. Well, we did not have too much time because there was plenty to choose from:)
When we arrived at the airport, slightly frightened us to have a crowd waiting for the briefing. Fortunately, it turned out that Colombians discharging their families of their loved ones, per passenger accounted for three adults and five children:)
Flight to Bogota (from Pereira) lasted 25 minutes, the plane looked like he just got out of the factory. Avianca, the memorable LAN flight from New York to Toronto, was my next favorite airline in South America.
paszportowo and customs clearance in Bogota is another story, well, that our plane was quite empty, and the season was late, so the traffic at the airport a little, but it took a whole 3 h at 20 airports odprawiających employees about 60 people. A few conversations, random, very detailed checking of luggage + another chat, a few hand baggage - 2 times the machine, a man once, 5 times checked my passport. I remember different times of border controls before the European Union, as well as series of reports dedicated to Mr. Edward Miszczak Poles residing in prisons in Latin America for the attempted smuggling of drugs, so it was not for me until such a surprise, but the Americans did not come out in amazement.
Colombia is the most beautiful country in which I was and am hungry for more. Insufficiency due to lack of time to see other parts of Colombia and the lack of knowledge of English. Inspired by the friends decided to go for a few - a few weeks to a country of Central America or South America for an intensive course of English and salsa or tango. Tango and Argentina gave me a few days Eve evening from New York, which also has a similar plan:) I thought about Cuba before things will change there, but .... for now I'm in San Francisco, which is consistently fantastic.
points at the end of this, which surprised me:
a) Sales of mobile minutes. Minutes are sold everywhere: on the street, in shops, taxis, even in the most forgotten places of the country. People who do not have enough minutes to have a subscription taken out by them, they buy minutes from people who somehow acquire mobile subscription is designed for companies, ie having 1000, 2000 and more minutes.
b) is the national flower of orchid.
c) On Sunday, 120 km of streets of Bogota is converted into bicycle paths. In addition, Bogota has a very extensive network of bicycle paths.
d) The air in Bogota is very polluted.
e) replacing the money exchange office or bank for every transaction should leave the imprint of the index finger and give the details, you need a passport.
f) The existence of social groups (estratos). In Colombia, there are seven groups, from 0 estratos covering part of the population, living in extreme hunger and poverty, the estrato 6 - the cream of the Colombian population, living in beautiful mansions, in a safe and clean neighborhoods, among the exotic vegetation. Estratos fix the prices of water, gas, electricity and telephone.
g) In the restaurants and bars are non-smoking.
h) the motorcyclist is mandatory reflective vest with a visible registration number, number is also on the helmet (back)
i) Colombians in caring for your teeth match the Americans.
j) than the population in Colombia are unknown concept, hordes of children at every step.
k) boots are very popular profession.
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